When protege John Sebastian called Fred Neil "mysterious," he was right. Neil lived most of his life out of the spotlight — odd for a career that demands a spotlight. But he got lucky. All it took was one song, and from there the troubled troubadour was able to pack up his guitar and his belongings and say goodbye to the world of music and hello to the world of ... dolphins.

Neil is known for two great songs and one really great voice — which another protege, David Crosby, called "the beautiful deep river of sound."

One of those songs, "The Dolphins," provided an obvious clue as to where Neil's interests really lay.

The other, "Everybody's Talkin,' " gave him the financial wherewithal to pursue those interests.

The frequently covered "Everybody's Talkin' " was a Billboard Top 10 hit for Harry Nilsson (No. 6, 1968) and was the featured track in the classic film "Midnight Cowboy." When the royalty checks started pouring in, Neil, a reluctant performer and recording artist even in his best moments, went back home to Florida, where he spent the rest of his days in anonymity, but not before he helped found the nonprofit Dolphin Project, with some seed money from another pal, Stephen Stills.

Neil was born in Ohio and arrived in Greenwich Village in 1960 at the height of the folk revival. He enjoyed some success earlier as a rockabilly pop performer, and one of his original songs was a minor hit for Roy Orbison ("Candy Man," No. 25, 1961).

Neil made an impression quickly, good and bad, with a remarkably deep, resonant baritone voice. While many performers like Crosby, Stills, Sebastian and Roger McGuinn still speak of him with reverence, those who had to coax songs and recordings out of him tell a different story.

Neil's very brief recording career included two albums for Elektra Records. Label founder Jac Holzman remembered him this way in the book "Becoming Elektra": "He is certainly highly regarded today, (but) it isn't for his humanity."

Neil's Elektra producer, Paul Rothchild, was more forthright.

"For my sins, I had to produce him. He was a brilliant songwriter and a total (jerk). The forerunner of the unreliable performer; the original rock flake. We'd book recording sessions and he'd show up or not show up."

Elektra cut Neil loose after his 1965 album, "Bleecker & MacDougal," now considered a classic.

He was picked up by Capitol Records and recorded with producer Nik Venet. The leadoff track for his self-titled 1967 LP was the classic "Dolphins," but when he was done, Neil had only nine tunes.

As far as Neil was concerned, the album was finished. But his manager, Herb Cohen, told him he needed another song. Neil said he had no more tunes and was getting ready to head for the airport. Cohen would not let him leave until he produced another song.

And so "Everybody's Talkin' " was born.

As Cohen recalled: "He went to the (restroom), got loaded, and about five minutes later came back and said: 'I'm just going to do this once.' That's it — he sang the song one time."

Fred Neil made only three albums for Capitol, the last one in 1971, and never again released any new music. He performed live only a handful of times thereafter, usually to raise money for his Dolphin Project.

He died 16 years ago this week on July 7, 2001, at age 65.

"He hated everything to do with performing, recording, writing songs — everything he was so good at," Cohen said.

Email: mconstantino@calkins.com

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